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Thursday, January 7, 2016

Trip Report: Classic Backpacking 1/1/16 - 1/3/16

“The man who goes afoot, prepared to camp anywhere and in any weather, is
the most independent fellow on earth. He can follow his bent, obey the whim of
the hour, do what he pleases whenever he pleases, without deference to anybody,
or care for any beast of burden or obedience to the course of any current. He is
footloose and free. Where neither horse nor boat can go, he can go, seeing
country that no other kind of traveler ever sees.” Horace Kephart, 1918

What better way to celebrate the new year than with a three day camping trip. I
figured it was the perfect opportunity to try being in the woods using the
Classic Backpacking equipment and techniques I have been trying to put together.

The weather was ideal for the task. From the sources I’ve been reading, there
seems to be a consensus that a person in the woods, relying on a single 5lb
blanket and without relying on a fire all night long to keep warm, can do so
down to about 40F (4C) and with discomfort can go down to 32F (0C). For
temperatures below that, one would have to rely on a fire that can be kept
burning all night long, or would need different insulation like fur robes. Since
the temperature for the weekend was set to be fairly warm, at about 32F (0C)
during the day, and down to 20F (-7C) at night, I figured it would be a good
test for the gear and techniques I was about to use. Any colder than that, and I
would have had to bring out a larger axe and rely on a fire to make it through
the night; any warmer, and it wouldn’t be much of a test.

I picked an area of the forest that I expected to have good resources, and set
out. When doing Classic Backpacking, it is much more important to select your
terrain carefully, as you are much more dependent on the resources that you can
find, so you must plan accordingly.

I followed a river into the woods, or at least I tried to stay close to it. You
always hear the advice of following a river out when in a survival situation,
but the terrain along rivers is often some of the most difficult you will
encounter.

Along the way I tried to gather resources when I saw them. Some birch bark and
pine pitch make good fire starter. They also make a big mess when you try to
carry them.

There are two very significant constraints on someone doing Classic Backpacking these days when compared to the people in the late 19th and early 20th century who did the same. One of
them is the willingness to drink untreated water. While I do not want to
discuss gear specifics in this post, most sources specify carrying only a single
canteen for water. That indicates two things. The first is that those travelers
were much more careful in sticking close to water sources. The second is that
they were willing to drink untreated water.

When it comes to water, that presents a serious issue if one wants to do things
in an authentic way without getting sick. I would have to purify my water,
something I can’t do on the move. That means I had to wait until my canteen was
empty, fill it up with unpurified water, and then bring it to camp so I can boil
it. Here I was also lucky to have some snow around, which I could melt for water
once I got into camp.

I walked as deep into the woods as time allowed. Ordinarily I would wait until
it was fairly late before stopping to set up camp, an act which takes me about
ten minutes. Since when doing Classic Backpacking I would have to set up a much
more complex camp, I stopped several hours earlier and got to work.

I brought only a small hatchet. I figured it would be sufficient for setting up
camp and gathering a small amount of firewood so that I could cook, and have
some left over in case I needed it during the night.

When setting up the bedding area, I encountered the other significant
disadvantage faced by someone doing Classic Backpacking when compared to people
in the past: the ability to collect natural resources. It is simply not
considered responsible these days to start felling trees in the way that it was
done in the late 19th and early 20th century. While Nessmuk describes bringing
down one tree six inches in diameter for fire wood and another for bedding and
shelter material, that is not a sustainable practice.

The result is that we have to be more careful in the way we use our firewood and
bedding materials. In this case, instead of me collecting a large number of pine
boughs, I collected just enough to create a soft top layer of bedding.
Underneath a constructed a stick bed, comprised of lined up sticks, covered by
finer willow branches. That way I can create sufficient dead air space and
separation from the ground without excessive use of living plant material.

For insulation, in addition to my blanket, I brought a sweater, a scarf, a pair
of gloves, and an extra pair of socks. Unfortunately, I was tired and
distracted, and forgot to change my socks before going to bed, and wrapped
myself up in the blanket while wearing my damp socks. I woke up around 9 pm with
my feet freezing. I had to get up, put on my other socks, get the fire going
again, warm up, and then get back into bed.

All went well until about 1 am when I woke up because I was cold. I had a little
bit of fire wood left, but starting the fire up again would have been a waste.
See, contrary to popular belief, cotton/canvas tarps are not flame resistant
unless they have been chemically treated. Mine hasn’t been because I didn’t want
to use modern chemicals, and the methods listed in the primary sources, using
sugar of lead (lead acetate) just didn’t seem like a good idea. The result is
that you can’t have the fire too close to the tarp. I had my fire set up about
three feet from my bedding, which was safe for the tarp, but would mean I would
have to get up and move closer in order to get any decent heat from my
small fire. It just wasn’t worth it. I spent the night waking up on and off due
to the cold. In the morning I used the remainder of my wood to warm up.

The first night under my belt, I packed up and got moving again.

For the second night I also stopped early. My plan for night number two was a
bit different. It seemed to me that the time I spent the previous day setting up
my tarp was time I could have used in better ways. There was no chance of rain,
so I didn’t really need the tarp. A tarp does virtually nothing when it comes to
reflecting heat from a fire, and an open set up like mine does little to trap
warm air. I figured my time would be better spent gathering more firewood and
then building the fire closer to my bedding.

That's exactly what I did for night two, using my tarp as ground cover on top of
my bedding to keep moisture away.

I melted snow for water, cooked some basic food, and wrapped myself up for the
night.

I hope you appreciate the above picture. I only have a 30 second timer on my
camera. That right there is the Olympics of blanket wrapping.

I didn’t make the socks mistake again, but still woke up during the night from
the cold. Having the fire close by made it easy to restart and warm up on
several occasions, letting it die down in between. That way the wood lasted me
through the night.

Some of you are probably wondering why I didn’t build a long fire like you see
in retro-style pictures. The reason is that I find long fires to be incredibly
wasteful of firewood, a precious resource that requires time and energy to gather, and are
usually unnecessary. A smaller fire, close to you, at about torso level will
keep you plenty warm. I would only consider a long fire if I needed a very large
fire for some reason without making it very deep.

Anyway, the night wasn’t as bad as the first. I packed up, and headed out.

Considering that I was trying to push my gear and the corresponding skills, I
think the trip was a success. I was right a the boundaries of what my gear would
allow me to do. I would say that the estimates for a comfortable night with a
single 5lb blanket, assuming proper bedding, of about 40F (4C) sound right. I was
able to push it lower with a few tricks I have picked up over the years, but it
wasn’t comfortable. If the temperatures were any lower, I would need to bring
out a proper axe and depend on keeping a fire going all night long for warmth.
That’s not a fun way to spend the night, but the choices are limited.

I’ll do some separate posts on gear. I tried to keep the items as authentic
as possible, but they weren’t in all respects. My boots were my regular
boots, my knife is not period correct, my water bottle has a threaded plastic
cap, etc. But, I’ll get into all that in later posts.

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About Wood Trekker

I love the outdoors. I was born and raised in Bulgaria, but currently live in the US. I don’t know much about the woods, but I’m happy to share the little that I do know. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at gilmore.ross@gmail.com.